Chemistry Teacher Hillary Stacey hugs Steve Uhl after he and his wife Diane presented her with a check to cover her expenses converting her Montana teacher’s license to an Arizona teacher’s license. Photo courtesy Vail School District

A few weeks ago chemistry teacher Hillary Stacey wrote to Vail School District Superintendent Calvin Baker to tell him about the money and time she was spending to get a teaching license in Arizona (after she had already paid $400 for a license from her home state of Montana).

“If Hillary does everything correct the first time and finds the least expensive classes, it will cost her a minimum of $1,217 in fees and tuition (plus her time, gas and related costs) to convert her perfectly good teaching license in Montana to a teaching license in Arizona. All the hoops she must jump through will not make her a better chemistry teacher. The experience is simply taking her time away from her students, money out of her pocket, and wind out of her sails,” Baker wrote in the op-ed piece.

Baker also wrote that “A change in the law could grant full reciprocity for teacher licensing. A tax on the sale of Arizona’s abundant natural resources (and birthright of our young citizens) would take care of the teacher salary issue.”